jellied coffee

[Mary Elizabeth]

Several egullet threads have mentioned jellied coffee and coffee bavarian. I made this coffee jelly, and took part of it to fold with whipped cream to make the bavarian cream. The recipe I made up was this.

for the jelly:

coffee, 500g

sugar, 60g

gelatin, 10g

for the bavarian:

whipped cream at 50% of jelly

The gelatin worked out fine at 2% of the liquid. The whipped cream was OK at 50% of the jelly. However, the coffee taste was too harsh. I used 4 double espressos from a Pasquini espresso machine with Starbucks/Costco beans, fresh ground. I'm thinking instant espresso powder or trablit would be a less bitter coffee taste. I'm wondering if anyone makes coffee jelly/bavarian, and what they use for coffee.

[sanrensho]

No suggestions on what coffee to use, but that looks great!

I can say that most Japanese coffee jelly recipes would not call for using espresso shots, since they are fairly uncommon in the average Japanese home.

Edited July 18, 2008 by sanrensho (log)

[Mary Elizabeth]

Thank you sanrensho! Someone in the coffee forum had some good suggestions to use Columbian beans, light roast, large grind. It made a milder coffee. Thanks for responding to my post.

[helenjp]

Looks great! The coffee suggestion sounds good - a middle of the road coffee would be "mocha blend", which manufacturers would like to us believe contains some light-raost mild beans such as blue mountain or mocha.

If you are shopping in Japan, one 4 g sachet of agar powder (kanten) will set 500 ml coffee firm enough to cut into cubes.

If you want a softer set, you can use up to 1 liter of coffee for 4 g - set it in the container, stir around to break up slightly, pour over a little milk, and slurp up or "drink" through a fat bubble-tea straw.

There is also a product called Ina-Aga-A (mixture of starch, gelatin, and agar) which sets to a gelatin-jelly consistency AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. It is easy to buy in summer, harder to buy in winter. Use 1 10g sachet for 550 ml coffee (about 400 ml if you want it considerably firmer). I like to use this product to make a very lightly sweetened milk jelly to serve in unsweetened black coffee.

[kermie]

i realize it wouldn't be japanese but a thought to add some coffee flavoured liquer might be nice in both/either the jelly and/or the cream.

I love jellies. I love wine/champagne jellies with berries too. or just fresh fruit juice mmmm

[Peter the eater]

Thank you sanrensho!  Someone in the coffee forum had some good suggestions to use Columbian beans, light roast, large grind.  It made a milder coffee.  Thanks for responding to my post.

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As someone who has never knowingly eaten jellied coffee I'm intrigued.

Do the flavours from, say, an oily black French roast brew translate unchanged to the jelly or is there more to it?

I love drinking coffee from the lightest lights to the darkest darks but find that the flavours change, often unfavourably, when incorporated into a cheesecake or ice cream. To jelly a coffee sounds like a light-handed way to keep the brewed flavours intact.

Edited July 27, 2008 by Peter the eater (log)

[Mary Elizabeth]

Helenjp--Thank you for the detailed gelling ideas! Thanks for the "mocha blend" suggestion.

Kermie--I did put kalua in but didn't mention it in the recipe. The liqueur has alot of sugar, so I need to reduce the sugar when I use it.

Peter--I agree that delicious fresh brewed coffee is not always good in food. I have tried several methods of making ice cream with fresh brewed coffee, but instant espresso tastes better to me in ice cream. We drink Starbucks black roast, and it tastes great, but was unbearable in the jelly. The Peets Columbian I used for the jelly was tasteless as a beverage, but perfect in the jelly. The coffee flavor stayed the same after incorporating the whipped cream.

[Peter the eater]

I'm getting excited about jellied coffee and it's potential as a tasty alternative to hot caffeine delivery systems. It's been a hot summer.

Do you think a cup of coffee and a cup of jellied coffee would have similar amounts of caffeine?

Would a super strong "coffee reduction" work in your recipe and still be palatable?

[kermie]

it might be nice making a softer set, serving it in glass cups with the cream on top

[Mary Elizabeth]

kermie:

This time I used cold brewed coffee. It had a milder coffee taste.

Peter: I think caffeine stays the same. The cold brew was a 100:25 water to coffee brew, used directly in the jelly without diluting. It tastes mild, the web sites say less acids, but packs a buzz.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Mary Elizabeth (log)

[JasonTrue]

I really enjoyed a kona coffee-based sorbet (brewed kona, sugar, a touch of fresh lemon juice) a while back. I suspect that the acidity of kona would be refreshing in a coffee jelly too.

I just used an Ethiopian coffee to make an attempt at a coffee jelly. I added three shots of espresso to the boiled ~500-600ml of kanten solution. I didn't try for any particularly elaborate presentation, so no photos, but it tasted pretty nice with a little splash of cream.

[Peter the eater]

kermie:

This time I used cold brewed coffee.  It had a milder coffee taste.

Peter:  I think caffeine stays the same.  The cold brew was a 100:25 water to coffee brew, used directly in the jelly without diluting.  It tastes mild, the web sites say less acids, but packs a buzz.

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ME, that's a great picture - the jelly in the spoon looks like a fractured chunk of glass.

Less acids appeals to me as does packs a buzz, could you provide a link?

One more request: please define cold brewed coffee.

[kermie]

Mary Elizabeth - that looks beautiful - perfect! want to eat it now.

[Mary Elizabeth]

Peter--Cold brewed coffee is very simple. Like sun tea. You put a ratio of water 100% and coffee, coarse ground, at 33-20% into a glass container, let it sit at room temperature 12-24 hours, strain through a filter into another container, refridgerate. You can google "cold brewed coffee" or "Toddy method", and several sites give directions.

Egullet has several threads in the coffee and tea forum that discuss cold brewed coffee: "iced coffee" is a good one.

The internet sites and the egullet posters all mention the mildness of the brew, the reason given is that cold water doesn't extract the acids. The consensus seems to be that the caffeine stays the same.

[sanrensho]

I recently made coffee jelly for a small dinner party with some neighbors. I used a strong brew using medium roast beans. ("True" medium roast, not burnt Starbucks medium roast.) The strength was just about right.

Topped the coffee jelly with a maple kanten jelly and poured in some kahlua cream. No one in attendance had ever had coffee jelly before, but it went over well.

[torakris]

kermie:

This time I used cold brewed coffee.  It had a milder coffee taste.

Peter:  I think caffeine stays the same.  The cold brew was a 100:25 water to coffee brew, used directly in the jelly without diluting.  It tastes mild, the web sites say less acids, but packs a buzz.

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That looks so good! I really love your spoon as well. Did you use the cold brew coffee in the same ratio as you posted in your first post in this thread? I have been drinking Toddy cold brew exclusively for 3 years now and love it. I would love to try to make a jellied coffee, I can get decent ones for a very reasonable price here in Japan so I have never been tempted before. Not until I saw that picture....

[Mary Elizabeth]

torakris--Thank you! I loved cold brewed coffee in the jelly. I wouldn't use anything else in the future. The ratios I gave at the top of the thread are good, except you can reduce the sugar by half with the milder cold brew.